Data may be stored as unstructured data, for example, in files and directories in a file system. A distributed file system may store multiple copies of a file and/or directory on more than one storage server machine to help ensure that, in case of a hardware failure and/or system failure, the data should still be accessible. Typically the protocol for replication in a distributed file system involves multiple operations for each transaction (e.g., write transaction). Generally, when there is a request for a transaction to write to a file, the protocol involves five operations (1) lock, (2) pre-operation change log, (3) operations (e.g., write), (4) post-operation change log, and (5) unlock. Some transactions may overlap in time, and may result in unwarranted and/or inefficient operations. For example, a file that is locked for Transaction-1 may be unlocked when Transaction-1 is completed and may be locked again for Transaction-2.